Via JMG: Quote Of The Day - Cardinal George

"The Chicago Gay Pride Parade has been organized and attended for many years without interfering with the worship of God in a Catholic church. When the 2012 Parade organizers announced a time and route change this year, it was apparent that the Parade would interfere with divine worship in a Catholic parish on the new route. When the pastor's request for reconsideration of the plans was ignored, the organizers invited an obvious comparison to other groups who have historically attempted to stifle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church. One such organization is the Ku Klux Klan which, well into the 1940's, paraded through American cities not only to interfere with Catholic worship but also to demonstrate that Catholics stand outside of the American consensus. It is not a precedent anyone should want to emulate." - Cardinal Francis George, repeating his "gays = KKK" comparison. (Via JMG reader Robert)

UPDATE: Veteran journalist Rex Wockner sends us this comment.

The Chicago gay pride parade attracts 800,000 people. It proceeds through a heavily congested, dense urban cityscape. Absolutely positively everything in its wake is disrupted. What on earth makes one service at one church on one day special enough to change the start time of a gigantic parade? Let alone excuses comparing 'the gay liberation movement' with the 'Ku Klux Klan'? No, cardinal, the gay pride committee is not targeting the Catholic church. 'The gay liberation movement' is not targeting the Catholic church either. Your church building is affected in no way any different from hundreds upon hundreds of buildings for miles in all directions (Lake Michigan notwithstanding). You really do need to get out more.

Labels: assholery, Catholic Church, Catholics, Chicago, gay Pride, hate groups, religion

reposted from Joe

Riley on Marketing

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 28, 2011

Friends and "Enemies"

It is not sufficient merely to see that sentient beings are suffering. You must also develop a sense of closeness with them, a sense that they are dear. With that combination—seeing that people suffer and thinking of them as dear—you can develop compassion. So, after meditatively transforming your attitude toward friends, enemies, and neutral persons such that you have gained progress in becoming even-minded toward all of them, the next step is to meditate on everyone as friends, to feel that they have been profoundly close.

- Jeffrey Hopkins, "Everyone as a Friend"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via AmericaBlogGay: NYT covers the Salvation Army gay backlash

How the Salvation Army refused to help a homeless Bil Browning (now the head of Bilerico blog) because he was gay. NYT:

Bil Browning and his boyfriend were homeless. To protect the identity of the boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend), Mr. Browning will not say specifically where, just that it was in “southern Indiana,” about 20 years ago. But he is very explicit about who refused to give them shelter.

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 25, 2011

The Light of Compassion

There has not been and will not be any such "self" or substantial entity which clings or is attached to one thing after another. But if you were to ask, "Well, what then is manifesting?" I would say that from the nature of emptiness (sunyata), great compassion manifests just as the sun manifests light. It unfolds by itself—no subject and no object.

- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, "Invisible Realities"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via JMG: Quote Of The Day - Frank Mugisha

"Many Africans believe that homosexuality is an import from the West, and ironically they invoke religious beliefs and colonial-era laws that are foreign to our continent to persecute us. The way I see it, homophobia — not homosexuality — is the toxic import. Thanks to the absurd ideas peddled by American fundamentalists, we are constantly forced to respond to the myth — debunked long ago by scientists — that homosexuality leads to pedophilia.

"For years, the Christian right in America has exported its doctrine to Africa, and, along with it, homophobia. In Uganda, American evangelical Christians even held workshops and met with key officials to preach their message of hate shortly before a bill to impose the death penalty for homosexual conduct was introduced in Uganda’s Parliament in 2009. Two years later, despite my denunciation of all forms of child exploitation, David Bahati, the legislator who introduced the bill, as well as Foreign Minister Henry Okello Oryem and other top government officials, still don’t seem to grasp that being gay doesn’t equate to being a pedophile." - Frank Mugisha, director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, writing for the New York Times.

Labels: Africa, bigotry, bravery, religion, Uganda

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: KKK FALLOUT: Activists Call On Catholic Cardinal Francis George To Resign

Activists are calling for the resignation of Catholic Cardinal Francis George after he declared that LGBT activists who protested the church were like members of the KKK. A petition has been launched on Change.org. Several major gay and religious groups have issued statements denouncing the Cardinal.

Human Right Campaign

"Cardinal George's horrific comparison of the LGBT movement to the Ku Klux Klan drives an unnecessary wedge between Catholics and the hierarchy," said Dr. Sharon Groves, Director of HRC's Religion & Faith Program. "This is a sacred time of year for many people of faith, a time when we should be creating and cherishing unity in our communities -- not casting about dangerous and divisive rhetoric. As people of faith we should expect better from our leaders."

Catholics For Marriage Equality

"As a lay Catholic, I am profoundly saddened that Cardinal Francis George defiles his office by comparing our LGBT family, friends and fellow Catholics to the Ku Klux Klan," said Anne Underwood, co-founder of Catholics for Marriage Equality. "His rhetoric rings particularly off-key coming the week before Catholics celebrate the birth of Christ. As a Catholic who responds to our historic Church teachings to stand with all marginalized people, I work for freedom and fairness for my LGBT friends. I feel dismissed and betrayed by our hierarchy, but not by our God, for whom Cardinal George did not speak."

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

The Rev. Eric Lee, Executive Director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said: "I have spent most of my adult life engaged in the civil rights struggle for African American people who have been terrorized by racist Klan violence," said Lee. "I am insulted by the comparison of the Klan to the current LGBT movement. When we distort the history of terror for cheap political aims, we only inflict pain on those whose lives have been scarred by the Klan."

Truth Wins Out

Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Francis George foolishly compared the LGBT community to the Ku Klux Klan. He has crossed so far over the line of basic decency that he couldn’t see it with a pair of binoculars. George’s over-the-top remarks were extreme to the point where they shredded his credibility and permanently damaged his ability to serve as a respected voice of reason. This outrageous comparison of the LGBT community to the Ku Klux Klan was so degrading and hurtful that apologizing will not be sufficient. George’s only road to redemption is handing in his resignation. If he has a shred of dignity and a shard of class he will immediately step down.

Labels: bigotry, Catholic Church, Chicago, gay Pride, HRC, scandal, Truth Wins Out

reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 23, 2011

Find a Refuge in Yourself

Without discipline, it’s very difficult to develop stability; that’s why we have a practice. And when we live according to the dharma, when we follow a teacher, when we follow the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, what it really does is bring us stability within ourselves. So, for example, when we have taken refuge, we find a refuge in ourselves; when we need ourselves, we are there for us. So often when we need ourselves, we’re not there.

- Sogyal Rinpoche, "The Stability of Ease"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via Gay Poltics Report: A kiss to seal a banner year

• A kiss to seal a banner year
  When U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta walked off the USS Oak Hill this week after a tour of duty, she walked into the arms of her partner and gave her a kiss, becoming the first openly LGBT sailor to carry out the Navy's "first kiss" honor. "This is the first time we can actually show who we are," Gaeta said of her two-year relationship with Citlalic Snell, who also serves in the Navy. The celebration of that kiss, and numerous other examples this year, suggest there is much more support for LGBT equality than most realize, writes Dan Savage. The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk) (12/21), The Stranger (Seattle)/SLOG (12/21)   

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 22, 2011

Staying Present with Fear

Let’s say you begin to feel afraid, and out of habit you begin to speed up and get panicked. This thereby strengthens further habits that keep you stuck in a rut. What you find is if you just train in simply staying present even a few seconds with those uncomfortable feelings, like fear, that you can then develop the strength to stay present for a few minutes, and then 10 minutes, then more, and so on. If you can stay present with your own emotional distress in an open space that’s not clouded and keep letting the thoughts about it go, then you always know what will deescalate the heat of the situation.

- Pema Chödrön, "Stepping into Groundlessness"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma:

Tricycle Daily Dharma December 21, 2011

Open Yourself to Vulnerability

We have to get to know and be honest about our particular strategies for dealing with vulnerability, and learn to use our practice to allow ourselves to experience more of that vulnerability rather than less of it. To open yourself up to need, longing, dependency, and reliance on others means opening yourself to the truth that none of us can do this on our own. We really do need each other, just as we need parents and teachers. We need all those people in our lives who make us feel so uncertain. Our practice is not about finally getting to a place where we are going to escape all that but about creating a container that allows us to be more and more human, to feel more and more.

- Barry Magid, "No Gain"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via AmericaBlogGay: Two big court cases coming up soon on Prop 8 and DOMA

Richard Socarides writing in the New Yorker:

After a year in which we saw a number of high-profile gay-rights victories, including the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the legislative enactment of same-sex marriage in New York, it’s hard to imagine that more big news is on the immediate horizon. But it is. Two highly significant court rulings in gay-rights cases pending in federal appellate courts are expected soon. Moreover, President Barack Obama’s self-described “evolution” on same sex-marriage appears likely to end with a strategically timed (if low-key) pre-election announcement of his support for marriage equality.

In Perry v. Brown, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is being asked to address a lower court decision striking down California’s voter-approved Proposition 8. If the court upholds the earlier ruling, it would restore same-sex marriage in California, making that right available to a total of almost twenty-five.

Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, which is before the First Circuit, asks whether the Defense of Marriage Act should be declared unconstitutional. That law prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legally preformed in states which allow them.

Via AmericaBlogGay: Signorile on how the gay Netroots helped sink AT&T's merger with T-Mobile

 Mike Signorile on HuffPost Gay Voices:

There are many stories to be told about the collapse of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger. One of them underscores, once again, the vitality of an advocacy press and bloggers who ask questions and hammer away at the truth in a way that much of the media simply does not. And while there were many involved in that effort, LGBT bloggers and gay media in particular were critical.

The merger blew up for a variety of reasons: AT&T's timing was horrible, with Occupy Wall Street focusing on corporate injustice as President Obama heads into a tough reelection; the promise of massive job creation just didn't add up; and the Justice Department was on a winning streak with antitrust cases.

 But another reason attributed is the backfiring of AT&T's aggressive lobbying, getting nonprofit organizations and civil rights groups to support the merger -- in what looked like an exchange for cold, hard cash.

It was in early June when gay bloggers first got wind of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's endorsement of the merger.

Via JMG: Bring Exiled Couples Home for the Holidays!

Via JMG: Married After 64 Years

Here's the first paragraph from a great New York article, Reasons To (Heart) NY:

When the Columbia Library closed each night at ten, it was the custom of John Spofford Morgan, who was studying for a master’s in international affairs, to hop on the subway and head downtown to the New Verdi on West 72nd. Back then, there were two kinds of bars for gay men, he says: pickup joints and old-friends joints. The New Verdi was the latter, but it turned into the former when at around 10:30 on May 17, 1947, Louis Halsey walked in. “Love at first sight,” says Lou now. “Was it?” John wonders. “For me it was slower.” In any case, Lou and John spent the night together, just as they have spent most nights in the 64 years ensuing. Last month, they got married.

(Via - Boy Culture)

Labels: gay seniors, gay weddings, New York state, NYC

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG:HomoQuotable - Richard Socarides

"Barack Obama’s self-described 'evolution' on same sex marriage appears likely to end with a strategically timed (if low-key) pre-election announcement of his support for marriage equality. [snip] Having the President publicly endorse marriage equality will be an important symbolic and substantive turning point. It would likely accelerate the pro-equality shift in public opinion, including in minority communities. It will make it easier for federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, to rule in favor of gay rights in the face of arguments that doing so is out of the mainstream of American political thought. And it might just help get President Obama reelected." - Former Clinton adviser Richard Socarides, writing for the New Yorker.

Labels: 2012 elections, Barack Obama, Richard Socarides

Reposted from Joe

PGMC goes Gaga for the Holidays

Via JMG: YouTube Names Zach Wahls As Most-Watched Political Clip Of 2011

YouTube says: "Surpassing the President and various presidential hopefuls in views, the #1 video on our list comes from a young man in Iowa speaking candidly to his government. Zach Wahls’ 3 minute speech defending gay marriage has been viewed more than 18 million times."






YouTube's 2011 Political Top Ten:

1. Zach Wahls speaks about family
2. President Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
3. Strong [Rick Perry ad]
4. President Obama on death of Osama bin Laden
5. Brother, can you spare a trillion? Government gone wild!
6. Seth Meyers remarks at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
7. Rick Perry - Proven Leadership
8. Jon Stewart Goes Head-to-Head Bill O'Reilly
9. Now is the time for action! [Herman Cain ad]
10. President Barack Obama's First Ad of 2012 [NRSC Ad]

Labels: gay families, gay parenting, Iowa, YouTube

Reposted from Joe

Via JMG: "Ex-Gays" In Caribbean Newspapers

Igor Volsky reports that the above full-page Exodus International ad appeared this week in newspapers in Trinidad and Jamaica. Embiggen for bullshittery.

Labels: "ex-gay", bigotry, brainwashing, con men, Jamaica, liars, religion, scam artists, still totally gay

Reposted om fJoe